Song Kang is finally back — and he's not even the only reason to clear your week: 12 new K-dramas on Netflix and more

The main event: Four Hands, Two Sonatas (Aug 29, tvN/Netflix)

Song Kang — the man Korean entertainment press literally nicknamed the "Son of Netflix" after Sweet Home, Love Alarm and Nevertheless — makes his first screen appearance since finishing his mandatory military service. He plays Kang Bi-o, a piano prodigy at an elite arts high school whose perfectly ordered No. 1 life gets detonated by the arrival of a gifted rival, played by Lee Jun-young.

The show follows them across a decade of rivalry, friendship and whatever that charged energy in the teasers is.

And yes, the man was nervous. At the show's press conference, via The Korea Herald, Song admitted:

"It was my first script reading in a long time, so I was very nervous."

He said his hands were literally shaking — a great sign for someone playing a concert pianist — until Lee Jun-young delivered his first line and settled him instantly. The poetry writes itself, by the way: this is Song Kang's first drama after the military and Lee Jun-young's last one before he enlists. They're passing each other in the doorway of the recruitment office, holding a piano.

The other premieres

• Mousetrap (Aug 28, Netflix) — Ryu Jun-yeol plays a reclusive novelist whose entire identity gets stolen by a shadowy figure called "The Rat," so he teams up with a loan shark (national treasure Sul Kyung-gu) to hunt the culprit. Six episodes, directed by Kim Hong-sun of The Guest and Money Heist: Korea, adapted from the webtoon Field Mouse. Two of Korea's heaviest hitters doing cat-and-mouse. Yes please.
• New Recruit 4: Sabotage (from Aug 24) — the military black comedy returns for round four: Park Min-seok is a corporal now, life should be easier, and it immediately is not, courtesy of a new battalion commander and one deeply suspicious recruit.
• One-Room TA (Aug 28, Viki) — a new Korean animated BL series, for those of you who like your romance drawn.

Still rolling this week

Fresh episodes keep dropping across the board, so your existing obligations remain in force:

• Our Sticky Love (Netflix) — Jung Hae-in as a boxing coach who shows up at an amnesiac prosecutor's bedside claiming to be her boyfriend. Sure! Why not!
• Flex X Cop Season 2 (Disney+) — Ahn Bo-hyun's chaebol detective, back on the beat.
• A Bona Fide Killer (MBC) — Gong Hyo-jin as a married assassin hiding her side hustle from her investigative-journalist husband.
• OK! Let's Get Divorced (KBS Drama) — co-CEOs of a wedding dress shop, divorcing. The irony is the plot.
• My Bias, My Boss (Viki) — fangirl joins a startup, discovers her idol co-founded it, love triangle ensues.
• The Apartment Job (Netflix) — ex-gang boss runs for residents' association president to steal the building fund, accidentally becomes a hero.
• The Affair Was Only Just Beginning — still airing out its storyline, title still doing all the marketing by itself.
• Spooky in Love (Netflix) — Park Eun-bin's ghost-touching rom-com wraps up its run and hands its weekend slot directly to Four Hands, so consider this your official binge-the-backlog window.

Twelve shows. Seven days. Godspeed.